Spartan NextGen: Reach
by HTKWolfe777
Summary: The Spartan 2, and 3 projects were a success beyond what could have been hoped for. But with the Covenant getting ever closer to Earth even the Spartans are not enough. Therefore Doctor Catherine Halsey used genetic material of her Spartans in an attempt to create a new generation of Spartans from scratch. This is a report of her efforts on Reach where it all began. (Please R&R)
1. Chapter 1

**Two Months Before Invasion (B.I.)**

"Everything is a go Doctor Halsey," a rather buff scientist says, standing a good head taller than her as he goes through information on a holographic screen. "We spent over a year growing these babies... Time to wake them up?"

He looks up at the room beyond, inside is a revolving mechanical pillar with dozens upon dozens of life pods. Each is filled with a faintly blue liquid, and a single lifeform apiece... Human lifeforms. Clones, not the Flash Clones that have a set lifespan, but actual clones capable of living a life as long as a typical human's. Utterly illegal... Yet utterly necessary.

Yes, I believe so. Its fantastic that its actually ahead of schedule for once. Wake them."

With a nod he hits a switch, and the room beyond is illuminated with white light. The desynchronized revolution of the pods slowly stops with a hydraulic hiss, and mechanical arms slowly push the pods away from the central pillar. Racks await on the edges of the room where the pods are laid to rest. Then the topmost layer of pods are detached from life support tubes before being carried into the walls themselves.

The assistant leans in towards the terminal as screens illuminate his lab cost. On his left chest side is the words, "Travis-910." He smiles softly as he sees the pods sliding into medical rooms where doctors are waiting to make a physical examination.

"The first 24 subjects are ready for animation," Travis reports. "Shall w leave this to the medical teams, or are you keen on welcoming over a hundred new souls to life personally?"

"How about just the best two?" Catherine suggests and smiles softly at the forms beneth them.

"Two? Why..." He stops himself. He's worked with Doctor Halsey long enough to know not to question her choices. Scratching his head he says, "Well we won't be able to tell who the most promising subjects are until they're put into training. Basic medical examinations should take at least a week, then we'll know if the chemical augmentations we introduced to their systems during the final stages of development will have taken any effect."

Naturally she already knows all this, Travis just has a habit of thinking out loud. Shutting his eyes he runs a few estimates through is head. "Naturally the augmentation was mild so they shouldn't be anywhere near Spartan levels yet. But hopefully it will cut down on the number of subject whose bodies reject the process. You should have your chosen two in... A month at least."

"Well I have them now." Cathrine insists," But first, we obviously nees to see if they can even walk."

"Understood ma'am. We should have them all awake in under 24 hours. They've been asleep for quite some time so I imagine they can stay awake long enough to meet you."

"Yes, I know." Catherine sets her data pad down and heads for the door.

 **18 Hours Later**

In the atrium of the facility, a large four story room that leads to several other branches of the facility, all the artificially grown subjects are assembled. The room is massive enough to house all of them on the ground floor.

They look rather diverse, all children on the cusp of puberty. Each of them wears a grey jumpsuit with black on the shoulders as well as their identification number on their left chest region. On ther hips is a belt with a few pouches, all of which are empty for the time being, as is the holster for a small sidearm that they will be commissioned when they're deemed adept to weild such a tool.

Catharine taps a com and clears her throat,"Hello Spartans, and welcome to your new home."

The mutterings of conversation die at her words as all eyes turn up towards her. Travis stands at her side, this time dressed in armor. Black, and green Scout armor to be exact. On his back is a shotgun, in his hands a drum fed machine gun. Both are loaded with rubber ammunition, though the standard sidearm on his leg has lethal rounds loaded. He looks over the crowd of children below him critically, knowin it will ultimately be up to him to make sure they're moded ino the soldiers humanity needs.

"As of right now, you are real soilders, not spartans. At least not yet." Catherine says and sits up straight, glancing at Travis.

He nods, and taps a wrist control. All around the room float Spartans in great of combat on holographic screens. One dodging around a Hunter to blast it in the back with a rocket launcher, another leaps off the top of a Scorpion to commandeer a Banshee, a lone Spartan standing on a crate with Elites rushing in only to be taken down with a shotgun or melee strike, a Brute assaulted from above as a Spartan dives from a ledge to drive a knife into its skull, and finally one Spartan ripping the turret off a Warthog to effortlessly mow his way through dozens of charging Grunts. Each of these soldiers have their own distinct armor, and color scheme with a number on their left chest.

All of this was captured from helmet cameras, and compiled by Travis to drive home one message for these future solders... What it means to be a Spartan.

"That is only a fragment of what Spartans are capable of." Catherine says proudly, "And I hope that you all make the the cut."

This makes some look excited, some look anxious, and there are varying levels of disbelief. Travis looks to Catherine Halsey, "Permission to address the cadets ma'am?"

"Permission granted."

He takes off his helmet to address the group below, his face now appearing on the screen. Silence slowly falls as he taking a slow breath.

"Cadets," he says. "I am Travis, Spartan-910 of the Spartan 2 program, and from this day forward I am going to start your training to make you better than the best soldiers... I am going to make you Spartans, the next big leap for mankind. You will be taught weapons, history, tactics, and above all else Honor, and Duty. Some of you will not succeed, many of you will not survive, but for those of you who do you will uphold not just the legacy of the Spartans, but the legacy of humanity itself."

With that he steps aside to let Catherine have the floor again.

"Not much else to say Cadets. Your training begins at 0400 hours tomorrow. Dismissed."

Lights shine on the floors, bpulsing through the hallways, and up the stairs. Taking a hint many of them start following them towards their bunks.

Travis speaks again, "When you reach your sleeping quarters each of you will find a chest at the foot of your bunks in which to keep your belongings. Press your thumb to the blue pad to key it to your own thumbprint. Inside you will find a headset which is to be worn at all tims outside your quarters. It is equipped with a basic learning program to begin your training in the use of Artificial Intelligence, a map of the permitted areas of the facility, and several other functions that will be unlocked as you progress your training."

He notes that while a many had stopped to listen a few had carried on regardless. The headsets will be key to handling the children, constant monitoring of their surroundings, location, biological status, and how they chose to learn. Every action these future Spartans make will be used to judge their capability, and make their profile for the record.

He turns to Halsey as he puts his helmet back on. "Looks like it's starting all over again."

"So it seems. How are the special augmentations for our future two elite Spartans coming along?" Catherine asks.

"The Kinetic Repulser, and the Matter Transceiver are still in the Alpha Testing," Travis responds. "But they're not like my Phase Shifter. We will want to carefully select which Spartans get them from the data the Headsets collect so we can plan their biological augmentation accordingly for maximum efficiency. The corresponding armor implants should need a few months still, a year at most if we suffer setbacks."

Cathrine nods and types something on her data pad. " Alright then. I'll see you tomarrow then." She turns on her heel and walks out.

 **Cadet Barracks 2-A**

When the cadets broke for bed they left seemingly at random, though they seem to posses the sense to sort themself by gender at least. In the first living quarters on the second floor a group of 6 girls have taken up residence. Some have listened to Travis, and are inspecting their headsets. One of them however... is not.

Subject 2114 is practically bouncing on her toes in excitement, and shadwboxing. Then she backflips just to see how far she can bend. Her landing however leaves much to be desired as her face meets the floor. "Ow!"

One of the girls snicker and sets her headsetto the side,"Are you alright?"

2114 sits up, quickly getting to her feet. "I'm better than okay! Did you see that out there?! That's gonna be us!" Sh dances in place lie a heerleader until she hits her toe on a bedpost. At which point she start hopping on one foot as she rubs her injured toes gingerly.

"Okay...Well I'm 392. Aren't you gonna get you headset?" 392 tilts her head.

She blinks, and hobbles her way to the trunk at the foot of her bed. Opening it she pulls out the headset, a fancy band f metal that fits around the back of the head with a thinner band on top. When she puts it on a holographic visor sparks on over her eyes.

 _"Scanning retinal data, connecting to data mainframe... Match found, hello Kate-2114."_

The female robotic voice speaking in her ear only loud enough for her to hear makes her blink, and smile. "Uh... Hi! I guess you know me then... Kate... Nice name I guess. What's yours?"

 _"I'm sorry but this construct is not made for social interaction. My function is as a quick-reference knowledge resource, and a guide around the facility. At least for the time being."_

"Sweet! " 392 says as she slides her head set on," Ruth-392...Has ring to it I guess."

Kate slides off her headset, "Nice to meet you Ruth. What about the rest of you?"

"Mia," replies a dark skinned girl in dreadlocks.

"Sierra," a fair skinned redhead with tomboyishly cut hair waves from her bunk.

"Avaline-218" is the last replie, another ginger with apple-red hair, and pale skin that made the hundreds of freckles on her face stand out and bright green eyes.

The last girl, the one that has yet to speak, is already alsep ignoring the rest.

Kate smiles at them all as she puts he headset back into her footlocker. "Nice to meet you all! Well uh... goodnight?" She shrugs as she sits on her bunk, slipping under the blanket.

Avaline lets out a annoyed huff and rolls over in her bunk, pretty soon, the entire room is filled with light snores.

 **End Transmission**

Footnote:

Dear UNSC Councilmen,

Please forgive the briefness of this initial report. Not many resources carry data of the Spartan NextGen project, and even fewer subjects survived its the glassing of Reach making witness testimony a rare commodity. We are lucky that no apparent efffort was made by Doctor Halsey to destroy any evidence of this project, most likely due to her predicting that Reach would fall, and she believed all traces of Spartan NextGen would be buried with her facility maling it lost frever. As it was she was half right.

We will compile my next report as soon as we find the evidence to back my hunches. We hope to find something more enlightening to report next time.

Sincerely,

Agent Wolfe, and Agent Star Splice


	2. Chapter 2

**2 Months B.I. Day 2, 0400 hours**

 **Cadet Barracks 2-A**

Abruptly the lights flash on with the shrill chiming of a school bell, and a prerecorded message of the same female voice from the headsets says, "Good morning cadets, it is time to begin your day. You have five minutes to be on your way to the mess hall for your morning meal, and please do not forget your headset. Any violation will be punished."

By this time Kate is trying to crawl under her mattress to escape the light. Other than that the only on in the room not moving is Mia. She simply lies there with her eyes barely cracked open.

Avaline whistle loudly to get their attention, " Get up." She grabs her headset and slides it on, glaring at the two

Kate groans as she gets her headset. Mia on the other hand still doesn't move. Curiously Sierra walks over to shake her awake, abut freezes a soon as her hand touches her. "…Avaline…?"

"What?" The ginger turns towards her.

"People are supposed to be warm right?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course they are, we're hot blooded."

"Okay, then why is her skin as cold as ice?"

Kate walks over with a frown, and puts a hand to Mia's forehead. Then she puts an ear to her chest. Her expression becomes more worried as she sits up, "…She's dead..."

Avaline sighs and presses a button on the side of her headset, " This is Avaline-218 reporting in."

 _"Acknowledged 218,"_ her systems reply. _"What would you like to report?"_

"The death of Mia-573."

 _"Processing... Medical team is underway to verify her condition. Please continue with prior directive."_

"Undnerstood." She clicks it off, and turns to the others," Medical team has been notified. We should continue. " she tilts her head as a gesture to follow as she walks out the door

One by one the others follow her out, Kate being the last one. She sends the corpse a sad sort of look before following the pulsing lights on the looor towards the cafeteria.

 **06:00 Hours, Observation Room**

Travis sighs at the multiple red icons on the list of the cadets under observation. Red means they're not wearing their headsets... In this case, the dead.

"Autopsy indicates their hearts just gave out overnight," he says to Halsey. "Probably a side effect of the premature augmentations... What do you think? Is this the last we're going to see of cases like these?"

"I'm not 100% sure, but I want heart monitors on all of them to keep tabs for the next three day. But I want you to do it before your training, what could of happened was arrhythmia. I also would like to have a briefing of those who bunked with those," Catherine pauses, and looks over the dead cadets' bodies."...Deceased."

Travis nods as he picks up a datapad, already removing the deceased from the monitoring list. "The headsets hook into the neural network of the cadets just like Mjolnir armor, so that they get used to such things like it's second nature. We just weren't aware of their vitals dropping because they weren't wearing the headsets while asleep. Should we set a new regulation for the headsets to be worn at all times?"

"Yes, that would be good Go ahead and gather the ones that were bunking with them. I'll deal with the bodies. "

Travis nods again. "Should we start planning to grow replacement cadets? Or at the very least the next generation? Personally I think it would be better to wait and see how what we have left pans out first." He taps out a message real fast, and sends it to all the headsets saying that orientation for training will be further delayed.

"We'll wait. No reason to stop a whole project because of a few hiccups."

He nods, "We lost 6 Cadets to this anomaly, each had five bunkmates. If you want to interview all 30 of the cadets who witnessed these deaths then perhaps it would be a good idea to put off training until tomorrow. It would give the cadets a chance to interact, and develop socially so we can start a profile for each of them."

"I was counting on it, bring them in."

...

 **06:** **30, Halsey's Office**

Travis stands off to the side in his armor, his railgun loaded with rubber rounds on his back as he works a datapad in his hand. Stepping over to stand beside his superior's desk he looks at the girl standing in the center of the room before them.

"Cadet Avaline-218," he says. "Can you recount for us your version of the incident that took place in your quarters last night?"

"Yes Sir. It was 10:32 when we all gathered in the room to pick our spots. Around 11:00 Cadet Kate made everyone introduce their selves." Avaline explains, standing straight up with her hands behind her back," After we were all finished, we all went to bed around 11:27."

Travis nods as he records the audio on his datapad, cameras in the room collecting video. "I see. Was there any incident from then to 0400 hours this morning?"

" No Sir. But I did notice before we slept she was pale, and a little hoarse." Avaline responds

Cathrine nods and rests her chin in a hand." Anything else?"

"No Sir."

"Call me Doctor."

Travis says, "Thank you 218. Interestingly enough you were the one to make the report?"

"Yes Sir." She nods.

"We spoke with two of your bunkmates already," Travis continues. "They seem to regard you as the one 'in charge' around your room. What do you think about this?"

Avaline blinks," I suppose it could be a learning opportunity, by observing what they will do, if they see me as the one ' in charge'.

"I see... And speaking objectively, what is your opinion of your bunkmates?"

"They seem capable, just not...mentally ready I suppose. They lack observation."

"Noted. Any behavior in them individually that seems to stand out to you?"

"Kate. She can sometimes get...distracted by other people, if you understand what I'm implying."

"Please save your implications for your peers," Travis says. "Speak your mind."

"I'm saying that I wouldn't trust her with watching my back by the way she acts, Sir."

"Oh? Any particular reason you find her so... Untrustworthy?"

"She doesn't focus. I have to constantly remind her of what she's supposed to be doing."

"Well she has barely been alive or 24 hours," Travis says. "Even for one with a mind of the NextGen Spartan we've observed similar behavior among others of your peers. If you believe this is an issue then perhaps you feel action is required on your part?"

"Possibly. But if she improves than my concerns will be discarded." Avaline says, "As you said we've only been alive for 24 hours."

Travis nods one last time before looking down at Halsey. She finishes typing something before looking back up at the future spartan, "That will be all Avaline. Your dismissed." The cadet nods and turn on her heel, walking out. When she's gone, Catherine turns to Traivs, "She was one of my candidates, as was Kate for the 'tag team' interesting is it not?"

"Given their mutual connection as well as them conveniently making this bond all on their own it certainly is," Travis responds. "Shall I summon 2114 now?"

"Yes."

He hits a section on his datapad, and two minutes later Kate steps in. She brushes some of her chin-length wavy hair out of her storm-grey eyes as she approaches the desk. She waves with a smile before freezing, and hastily standing at attention.

"U-um... Doctor Halsey, Spartan 910, Cadet 2114 reporting for duty ma'am, and sir!" She snaps a salute with an awkward smile.

Catherine stares at her for a second and sighs, "At ease Kate."

Kate relaxes her stance, and rubs the back of her neck, "Sorry ma'am... Guess this morning has me a bit shook up."

"It's understandable, now What happened the night before?"

"Nothing really Doctor Halsey," Kate replies. "I was super excited to start training, and was figuring out how to use this headset thing. After that we introduced ourselves so we could put names to faces, and hit the hay since we were supposed to start training early today."

"Okay, before you went to bed did anyone seem, hoarse? Or pale?"

"Not really no, at least not that I noticed. There was one girl in our bunk though that never introduced herself. My guess is she hit the hay first to get a jump on sleep. She wasn't the one that... died... though..."

"Mmmmm...Alright then, your story matches the others. Now on to you. What do you think of your roommates?"

"Hm? Well... Not much really, I haven't known them long, but there hasn't been anything to make us not like each other. I figure if we could work as a team in training we could pull through pretty well... If that's allowed I mean."

Travis makes a note, "A Spartan isn't a one man army as many would think. Knowing you have others you can rely on is always a factor to have in your favor."

Kate smiles, "Yeah... Like, I'd like to think if I got in trouble they'd step in to help me out, mostly cuz I'd do the same for any of them. 218 though, she doesn't really seem to get that I think. I mean she has a good head on her shoulders, really focused, but she just... I don't know, I guess she's not getting that we're still people, and people need people."

"I believe her views are more pointed towards relying on yourself. You how ever, rely on others, and yourself. " Catherine explains,

"Oh I can take care of myself," Kate proudly thumps herself on the chest with a fist. "I'll make you proud to call me a Spartan! But I've been using this headset thingy, and from how it sounds a soldier is supposed to take care of others, protect them. Spartans are like Super Soldiers right? So that means I gotta be able to take care of everyone I can."

Travis smiles at this behind his visor as he makes a note, "Thank you for being so open about your thoughts 2114... Now I have a question for you. If you were ordered to shoot one of your peers, would you?"

Kate blinks in surprise at the question, and looks down thoughtfully. "I... uh... Will I get in trouble based on my answer?"

"Negative," Travis responds.

Kate sighs through her nose, "Then honestly... I don't know. I mean soldiers follow orders, but... there has to be a good reason behind the order to make it an order worth following right?"

"Interesting answer Kate." Catherine says, "One more question Would You give your life up for a society?"

"A society?" Kate tilts her head in confusion, "If you mean humanity then... I guess I might..."

"Might is not a valid answer, Its a yes, or no."

"I..." She swallows softly, "...I don't know yet ma'am..."

"Your dismissed." Catherine says a bit coldly and narrows her eyes

Kate nods, looking hurt as she walks out of the office. When she's gone Travis turns his head to Halsey, "Honest to a fault it seems... If she takes after her bloodline though I'd like to believe she'll do what needs to be done when the time calls for it."

"Lets hope so."

"If anything she seems a good foil for 218… So far those two are catching my interest the most. They seem to be handling the deaths the best, seeing how most the other cadets are trying to ignore the empty bunks in the facility now."

Travis looks at his datapad again, "As for their headsets they're also above average activity. It looks like 218 is trying to learn all the functions her headset is capable of while 2114 is almost constantly looking through video files of past ops. She seems particularly interested in the Covenant, learning their weaponry, species, history, and the like."

"I believe this is a good time to say I told you so."Catherine smiles

"How so Doctor Halsey?"

"You said I could be wrong about them."

"You still could be," Travis says. "It's much too early to say anything for certain."

"Maybe." She sighs, " I don't require to met with the other cadets, we have what we need."

Travis nods, and jerks. "We have a situation in the mess hall!" Tossing his datapad on her desk he draws his rifle, and runs out the door.

Catherine goes after him, although more calmly.

In the mess hall one of the larger cadets with a 682 on his chest is letting his ego get the better of him, generally bullying the smaller cadets. He looks down at a boy who looks on the verge of tears, 639. "What you think you actually have what it takes to be a Spartan? Please, you're so pathetic that I bet you couldn't figure out which end of a knife to use."

"Shut up! I can be a Spartan, I will! Just you see!" 639 wipes one of his eyes in frustration.

"Oh yeah?" 682 grabs the smaller cadet by the front of his uniform, and lifts him off the ground, "What if I got a different say?"

Travis stands by in the shadows, watching with a frown as he waits to see how the situation unfolds.

"Hey!" Avaline stomps up to 682, even though her towers over her "Knock it off." she growls

682 backhands her to the floor, "Oh yeah? Who's gonna make me?"

"Mind if I try?" Kate steps up behind him, grabs one of the Plexiglas chars in the room, and brigs it down on the back of his head. He stumbles a bit with a growls as he drops his first victim, and Kate offers Avaline a hand back to her feet.

Avaline slaps her hand in hers and pulls her self up,"Thank you." She looks down at 639 and offers her hand,"Come on, on your feet."

Kate rolls her eyes, ad then the hulking cadet punches her to the ground before kicking Avaline across the floor. Scowling he grabs the younger boy cadet in a headlock, "Think you're all so tough shit? Well watch this!"

And with that he breaks 639's neck.

BLAM!

682 drops onto his back with eyes wide in shock, a bullet hole in his forehead. Not a rubber bullet either, Travis had drawn his sidearm loaded with live rounds to make the shot. Many of the surrounding cadets back away from the corpses, and the slowly growing pool of blood. Travis walks farther into the room, the cadets parting from him like he were death itself.

Avaline gets to her feet and looks at the corpse before slowly standing at attention.

Catherine walks right in after the fiasco and gasps loudly, clamping a hand over her mouth.

Travis addresses the cadets, "All injured cadets report to medical." Then putting two fingers to the side of his helmet he radios Medical, "We have two more bodies in the mess hall, send retrieval."

Kate stares at the bodies, and tears come to her eyes as she slowly hugs her legs to her chest. Travis puts his pistol back on his leg as he turns to walk out of the room, right towards Halsey.

She turns sharpy and stomps out of the room.

Avaline walks/limps over to Kate," Are you alright?"

Kate shakes her head slowly. "…We could have saved him..."

"To late now." Avaline says, as a medical team comes in, gently picking up the bodies and carrying them away.

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't have tried harder!" She glares at Avaline, thinking very hard about hitting her with a chair next. Avaline huffs, but stays silent.

 **Halsey's Office**

Catherine plops in her chair and rakes her fingers into her silver streaked hair and hangs her head," I never EVER want a incident like that to happen again. Do you understand me?!"

"We agreed an environment of open exploration within a contained environment was ideal to produce as social an environment as possible for this project," Travis replies calmly. "Casualties were expected, and predicted. I had my doubts the situation would actually take a lethal turn so I withheld suppression rounds so the cadets could use this as a learning experience."

Putting his rifle on his back he takes off his helmet, "In my opinion they learned something valuable today, something I plan to drive in to them during orientation tomorrow."

"Yeah well I didn't think it'd actually happen," she snaps, with clenched fists.

"It's not like you to act so foolish," Travis says in slightly harsher tone. "You're a scientist Halsey, act like it. If he hadn't killed that cadet then it would have been a good thing yes... But he did, and then served as an example of what happens when a soldier kills one of their own. There is no tolerance for it."

Putting his helmet on her desk he says, "There are next to no controlled variables in this experiment, meaning it will be chaos in majority. We both know that means there will be failures in more ways than one. As scientists we can only learn from what we observe, and document it to produce the results humanity needs. We can do neither of which if you lose your head at a setback like this."

"Well its hard to produce the results when when they kill each other. And I am NOT losing my head. I'm just...frustrated. "

"They won't kill each other anymore," Travis says firmly. "You, and I have ensured there are no blind sports with the facility security systems, even putting audio recorders under the floor under each bed. Even if they figure out the headsets monitor them then they won't be able to hide from us, so they won't risk intentionally killing one another when I might put a bullet in them too."

"Yeah..." she whispers and takes a long swing of coffee, looking utterly exhausted.

"Doctor Halsey..."

"Mmm?" She looks up at him. Now that he really looks, she has heavy bags under her eyes, along with slightly blood-shot eyes.

He reaches over, and pats her hand. "Everything will be pit to rights in the end. We're making heroes here."

"I know. I know." She says quietly, "May I know who all was involved in the...fight?"

"Cadets 639, 682, 218, and 2114."

"Were they hurt?"

"The first two are the deceased. Minor bruising for the other two I might imagine, at most a lost tooth."

"Alright. Have all cadets run drills for the rest of the day."

He nods as he puts on his helmet, "Did we ever entrust a drill sergeant to this project, or am I still doing that personally?"

"Sargent Johnson."

Travis nods, and uses a datapad to send a message to all the headsets, telling them to assemble in the atrium. "Then have him meet me in the Atrium... Orientation comes early it seems."

 **07:30, Atrium**

The cadets are assembled on the ground floor talking in low mutters, more than a little scared after the events of the last few hours.

There's a tapping sound on a microphone, "Is this thing on?" A gruff voice mutters, there's a shuffling sound before the voice clears its throat," Alright then cadets, time to bring you hell."

The mutters stop as Johnson's face appears on the screens. Half of each screen is his face, and on the other half separated by a vertical barrier is Travis.

"As of right now, your all nothing but a bunch of bums. That's changes today," Johnson raises a pistol, "You're all running tour for the next four hours, anyone who slows down...Well I'll give you a reason to slow down," he wiggles the magnum, then shots it," Now get going!" He barks

The cadets look ready to panic, many of them consulting their headsets to find out what "Running Tour" means.

Avaline nods and bolts out of the crowd, already have studied the prints of the facility. Kate notices, and quickly chases after her, counting on her to at least know the smartsy stuff at least. Several of the cadets follow in lines of two behind them.

Pretty soon the rest catch on and follow, Avaline leading them all, she looks back at all of them and rolls her eyes. She leads them to a large sliding door that opens to her hand print. When it opens they see a artificial woods with a beaten down trail.

Avaline starts jogging down the dirt path. Kate jogs beside her, "Wow... This was here all along... Just, wow..."

"Its all fake." Avaline deadpans, "The trees have no wax covering on their leaves, and they're not turned toward the light."

"Do you enjoy being a party pooper?"

"I'm simply observing what's the truth."

"Whatever party pooper..." she taps her headset, "Hey program lady, run me through how those Phantom things work again." She listens as they jog, smiling to herself while tuning the rest of the world goes by. Some diagrams, and other such things flash in the right side of her holographic visor so she has visual aids to glance at, and still run the trail.

Avaline closes her eyes, having a long straight away to do so without falling and starts humming.

"You know the headsets have music right," A male voice says behind her. "Pretty nice stuff."

"Why? Does my humming both you?"

"No, but it takes less effort,' he says. "I'm 721 by the way, Felix-721." He's a nice looking boy with short red hair.

"Avaline-218." She replies,"How do I get it to play? I only figures out the Important details."

"Just ask the program to give you a genre, and look through the songs until you see a title you like. Memorize the band, and title so you can just ask her to play it again later if you like it."

"Oh. Uh, Dejà play...Run, by alwolnation."

 **11:30, Bio Enclosure**

They run their tour without incident, and by then all the cadets look ready to keel over. Kate is holding her ribcage like it might burst open at any moment, but stubbornly stays on her feet.

Avaline puts her hands on her hips and tilts her head back with a light cringe as she puts a hand over her chest, feeling as though her ribs are getting cooked on a hot grill. She looks at Kate and gives her a thumbs up as a saying of ' are you Alright?'

Kate smiles, showing her teeth as she nods once, raising an eyebrow to ask her the same question. She raises both eyebrows and nods, still panting heavily. Felix is doubled with his hands on his knees, and nearby another male cadet is leaning on a tree, forehead pressed to his right arm as he faces the wall. The number 666 is clearly visible on what they can see of his chest however.

Avaline approaches him,"Are you alright?"

666 breaths heavily, and nods. He's bald, and loos like he was made with a pretty sturdy muscle build. Felix gives a thumbs up, "Yup... Thanks for... Asking... Oh my god..."

She pats his back and turns back to Felix with a raised brow,"Fine are _you_ alright? "

"Peachy," he says with a smile.

"Love that burn," Kate says with a shaky laugh as she smacks Felix on the back, sending him sprawling to the floor.

Avaline sighs, "Kate..."

"Yeah?" Kate looks up at her questioningly.

"Try to be a little more easy. I'm getting tired of putting my hand out." She holds out her hand to Felix.

Felix waves her off, "It's nice down here... You should join me..."

"No thanks," she says, "Standing helps you get oxygen though your blood faster "

"But-WHOA!" Felix is lifted to his feet by 666 who looks mildly annoyed with his friend.

Avaline asks 666, "May I ask what your name is?"

666 simply points to his identification number on his chest, either incapable of speech, or choosing not to talk... Hard to tell by his expression.

She nods, "Okay then."

"All right Cadets, back inside." Johnson's voice rings in their ears.

They all move as quickly as thy can to get back into the Atrium for fear of another of them getting shot. Kate pants as the herd of cadets jog back into the room, and stays by Avaline as she tries to catch her breath.

"Well none of you died, so that's a step in the right direction," Johnson says. "Next is a reflex test Cadets." They glance at each other nervously as they all wonder what he has in mind.

Suddenly turrets drop from the ceiling, armed with rubber bullets, and start up, shooting at the cadets as random barriers slide up from the floor.

Avaline rolls behind a barrier and looks up at the Sargent. Kate on the other hand grabs a nearby cadet, and shields her with her own body to protect the cadet from the shots until she gets her to Avaline's shelter. Then she too joins them, "Fuck those things hurt!"

"Your objective Cadets is to destroy all targets." Johnson yells over the sound of the fire."

Avaline narrows her eyes, and uses the shadows on the floor to see where all the targets are, then she looks around for something to use as weapon to destroy the turrets with.

Travis watches from beside Johnson, and watches. None of the cadets have any combat training of any sort, but this is serving as a good judge of their instincts when faced with an impossible situation. He does notice how Kate had taken bullets for a random cadet while earlier she said she wasn't sure if she could give her life for a society.

Avaline smirks,"I got it. See those electrical boxes?" She points at a small box connects the turrets to their power sources. "If we can find a way to destroy them then we win."

"Nice, and does your plan involve using me as a meat shield," Kate asks dryly.

A sharp whistle draws their attention to where 666 is staring at them behind his own barrier. He mimics taking off his headset, and holds up a hand to show five fingers... then four... three...

Avaline blinks, and takes of her headset and waits for his last finger to go down. Kate follows suit, and so does 666.

Travis jerks as his datapad on his hips alerts him to the loss of three life-signs, and quickly shuts off the turrets with a wrist control. As soon as the turrets are off Felix leaps towards the electrical boxes, using a steak knife he swiped from his lunch try to slice into the cable just above it... Which makes the box promptly burst in his face with a shower of sparks.

Kate rushes to him, dropping her headset as 666 hurries over too. "Felix are you alright?"

His hair is standing on end, and smoking in a few places yet he doesn't look too banged up. Lucky for him the knife had plastic handle so he wasn't instantly electrocuted. So as she helps him to his feet he raises a fist, and shouts, "Hoorah!"

Avaline bolts towards her box and slams it open, disconnecting a bunch of important looking wires. The turret falls limply, now pointing at the ground.

Travis looks between the two groups silently... Then he puts his datapad on his hip again. Many of the cadets think he's going to shoot someone again, but instead he slowly starts clapping his hands.

Johnson makes a satisfied ' humph' and claps," That was quite the show cadets. ."

Avaline walks back over to the others and pats 666's back," Good job."

He puts a hand on her shoulder with a smile, and gives a firm nod.

"Cadets 218, 666, 721, and 2114," Travis says. "You've just moved to the top of our class for the time being. Sergeant, starting tomorrow I want these four to begin their firearms, and combat training. Do what you like with the rest."

"You got it." Johnson nods," You other cadets better get your self together. The only way your really gonna get shot is if you go AWOL, or kill another of your own."

Felix raises a hand, "Question sir!"

"Shoot 721."

"Can I get a new knife? Like... One that doesn't break when shit blows up in my face?"

"Tomorrow. " Johnson says, "Now then you guys have two choices, you can run tour again, or do pulls up, pushups, ext."

They look among themselves, and Kate says, "I vote no more running."

"I vote sleep," Felix says. 666 smacks him up the back of the head for that, and raises an eyebrow to Avaline.

"Pull ups." Avaline responds. Johnson nods, and points the next order to the other cadets, "The rest of you are going to the weight room. Now hustle! "

The others run off as orderly as they can, leaving the four cadets alone with their commanding officers in the Atrium.

"Alright then you four, feel free to do whatever exercise you want, just as long as you do something," Johnson says as he turns away. "Spartan Travis here is your babysitter." With that he's leaves to the weight room.

 **End Transmission**

Footnote:

To the UNSC Council,

It is with great pleasure that we deliver our next report. As a personal entry it is impressive how Fireteam Reclaimer behaved in their earlier years. If it had not been verified through audio, and visual recordings I would have never believed it myself. At this time they had no combat training of any sort, and their biological augmentations made them only slightly stronger, faster, and more durable than the average civilian, making even the greenhorn Marines a higher tier than these NextGen Spartans.

There is still much, much more data to analyze, and compose before it can be sent. Or progress my be sporadic at best, the Covenant, and Insurgency are on Reach once again looking to each claim the planet for when it eventually recovers from the devastation eight years ago. We wish to extend our assurances however that we will deliver our report in full, and carry on our investigation of Fireteam Reclaimer to present events.

Sincerely,

Agents Wolfe, and Star Splice


End file.
